The Wife of Vader
by LVB
Summary: AU. Padmè joined Anakin. Lady Vader thinks about the choices she has made. One-shot.


**The Wife of Vader**

**Author:** LVB

**Summary:** AU. Padmè joined Anakin. Lady Vader thinks about the choices she has made. One-shot.

**Disclaimer:** Star Wars and anything SW related belongs to GL and LucasFilm Ltd. I don't own anything nor claim to. All rights reserved for them.

A/N: I really, truly would appreciate some feedback with this story. With my last two fics, I didn't get much at all. And while I don't write for glory, it would be kind of nice to hear what people think.

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People across the newly-developed Empire will wonder why I am married to Darth Vader. They will wonder the reason a good, wholesome Senator of Naboo would ever associate with the man who slaughtered the thousands of Jedi Masters, Knights and Padawans left in the galaxy. The man who wears a terrifying black suit, laden with intimidating looking machinery to help him seem more powerful and finished off with a black cape. The suit he wears not out of necessity, but of the burning need to look the part of the most terrifying man in the galaxy. Yes, they will wonder the reason Padmè Amidala Naberrie, Senator of Naboo would dance with the devil himself.

The news must have spread like wildfire that day. Yes, the day the Republic I loved and fought so hard to protect shattered, giving way to a new era of an Empire. The day a Chancellor that I had helped to gain his position, used the powers we gave to him so carelessly to destroy a Republic that has stood for over a thousand years. The day Palpatine, former Senator of Naboo declared himself the Emperor.

I watched on as the man I called husband stood beside this monster, his newly-formed faith never wavering. I felt my heart break in two that day, looking on to see a vicious sparkle of power in the eyes of the former Anakin Skywalker. I had been foolish to think my next thoughts that day; that I, the former Queen of Naboo could possibly change the mind of my husband; Darth Vader.

Heavily pregnant with what I now know to have been twins, children I had conceived with Anakin Skywalker, I set off to confront him. Him…a transitional husband, between the man I married and the man I am now married to. My heart nearly stopped when I saw him that day. He wore his trademark cape and that suit, that horrifying black and intimidating suit. The tears I had pent up for so long threatened to spill over when I saw my husband.

I felt his cold, dead arms encircle me. They taunted me and teased me…they looked so much like Anakin's hands yet they weren't. Although they were clean, I knew the blood of many innocents stained these hands that touched me. I shuddered…I moved. Backing away, he saw the fear in my eyes. And for a second there, I foolishly thought that maybe, I had my Anakin back. How wrong I was.

Suddenly I felt myself levitating off the ground with a strange hold around my throat…my breath being cut off. I barely remember screaming and crying but somehow I know those would have been my actions…Padmè's actions.

He stormed off, disgusted and horrified. Not that I blame him now. His wife…his most trusted ally had suddenly betrayed him. Many moments passed until I had the energy and the will to get myself up off the ground. It was then that I cried. The tears I had held onto since the nightmare started fell freely onto my cold cheeks.

Anakin Skywalker was dead. He died along with the Republic. His body had withered away into a vast nothingness similar to the far reaches of the galaxy, his voice silenced. Yes, Anakin Skywalker was truly dead. Only a small part of him could exist now; his children. His children were in limbo, alive but not of this world yet. The Skywalker children, hidden away, safely protected for now.

But what of the Skywalker children after their birth? Would they ever be at peace? More importantly, could I ever really protect them? The Jedi were dead, the Empire would now have reached every system in the galaxy. There was nowhere to hide…nowhere to run. It was only a matter of time now, before my husband would be back…to kill me.

Standing up, I remembered my resolve. I let my memory wash over me and suddenly I could smell the flowers that surrounded us on the field that day. I remembered laughing; I remembered every touch and every look. I remembered falling in love with Anakin Skywalker.

I remembered standing next to him, united hand in hand with the blessing of the Naboo holy man. And I remembered pledging my love, my loyalty and my heart to Anakin Skywalker that day. And now, Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader.

I walked so far that day, my few precious possessions in tow. I walked right up to the Coruscant centre where Lord Vader waited. I knocked on the door and I waited as Vader opened it. No words were needed that day; I just fell into the arms of my new husband. And as he closed that door that day, Anakin Skywalker and Padmè Skywalker were truly dead.

What the people do not realise is that I was the wife of Darth Vader before the grand Empire crushed the galaxy. I stood beside him through the Clone Wars, through his transformation. I made love to him to conceive our beautiful, cursed children. In the hour of my return to my husband, I gave birth to our children. In the room hidden away in Coruscant as Lord Vader as my only witness, I brought forth the last legacy of the Skywalkers. I gave birth to the Vader twins. The very next day, in front of the entire galaxy, I married Darth Vader.

The people must have wondered, watching on, why would a Senator of Naboo marry Darth Vader? They would have whispered, pointed and stared. Wondering what the price was; how many people had he threatened to kill if he did not get his way? They would assume that I was merely a political tool to him, a woman to bore his children, to share his bed. They would just think it strange to choose a Senator of Naboo over a galaxy full of women. They would feel pity and sorrow for this once powerful woman.

If only I could have told them, that it was my choice. I look down at my tiny, beautiful children. Their faces are angelic and innocent. Luke and Leia Vader are the children of Darth Vader. They sleep peacefully, unknowing of the nightmare that they are now caught in. They are unknowing of a life they could have led; with loving parents, hidden away in a lakeside retreat with birds singing and the flowers blossoming. They will never know the love of the Skywalkers. They will forever live in the shadow of Vader. They will be the spawn of Lord and Lady Vader. They will never know the name Skywalker.

The Skywalkers are dead. The Republic is dead.

Padmè Amidala Naberrie Skywalker is dead.

The former Senator of Naboo is now the wife of Vader.

But it was Padmè's choice…and now she must live with it. She is now Lady Vader.


End file.
